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Volume 17 Issue 7 - April 2012

  • Text
  • April
  • Toronto
  • Arts
  • Jazz
  • Theatre
  • Chorus
  • Singers
  • Choir
  • Vocal
  • Musical

set forth religious

set forth religious feeling; and to borrowthe words of one writer, “the pagan spiritinspiring most of the poems reminds usthat the rough, intense world of medievalEurope was anything but a Sunday Schoolpicnic.” Though some indications exist ofhow they were to be sung, bringing themto life takes some imagination. Eminentlyequipped for this task, the musicians of theToronto Consort will set their voices, fiddle,recorder, hurdy-gurdy, lute and harp to theirperformance in a trio of concerts, titled “TheOriginal Carmina Burana,” April 27 to 29 atTrinity-St. Paul’s Centre.Lumière Quartet.STRING QuartetsFast forwarding to the 18th and even the 19thcentury, we find concerts this month by noless than three string quartets devoted toperiod performance:On April 22 the Eybler Quartet shouts“Hey, I’m Mozart, too!” — and in readingthe biographies of the three composersrepresented alongside Wolfgang Amadeus we find out why: JosephMartin Kraus (1756–1792), sometimes called “the Swedish Mozart,”Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga (1806–1826), dubbed “the Spanish Mozart,”and Joseph Boulogne, le Chevalier du Saint-George (1745–1799), “leMozart noir,” all were precocious classical composers who had veryshort lives. Uncannily also, Kraus was born in the same year asMozart; and Arriaga was born on what would have been Mozart’s50th birthday.On April 28, in a presentation of the Academy Concert Series, theLumière Quartet commemorates “Schubert’s Final Journey” — hiscreative journey to his own imminent death — performing his “Deathand the Maiden” String Quartet in D Minor,and the glorious, posthumous two-celloString Quintet in C Major, the last piece ofchamber music he wrote.On April 29, the Windermere StringQuartet, on period instruments, concludetheir seventh season with “Turning Points,”featuring works that exemplify pivotal momentsin history and in music — by JosephBoulogne (le Chevalier du Saint-George),Beethoven and Schubert (again, his two-celloquintet — the same work as will be heardthe at the Academy Concert Series the nightbefore; but, like the finest wine, it’s deliciousenough to be sampled twice in two days!).As if all these weren’t enough, there’s lotsmore this month to tempt you:• April 7: Fairest Isle, all isles excelling, thatgave us the genius of both Henry Purcell andthe Beatles! But did you know that the twoare linked artistically? Scaramella reveals thetruth in this, illustrating some of the manyparallels between the two famous Englishentities with lovely and beguiling music by both, in their last concertof the season, “Imagine.” Gambist/artistic director Joëlle Morton isjoined by Brazilian guests, Paulo Mestre, countertenor, and SilvanaScarinci theorbo, as well as multi-instrumentalist Kirk Eliott, sitar,bouzouki and accordion.• April 13: Once again, I FURIOSI is in an uproar — this time it’sabout families. Of course in Baroque days, even while bursting withcreative musical genius, they could be as unruly as ever. Join thefuror of “I FURIOSI’s Family Jewels” as guests Jed Wentz, flautotraverso, and Olivier Fortin, harpsichord, come for the I FURIOSIdysfunctional family reunion.~E TO|oNTOCºNSO|tpresentsT‰ O|iGINALCARMINA BU|aNAApril 27 & 28 at 8 pmApril 29 at 3:30 pmThe original Carmina Burana is one of the mostbeautiful collections of medieval song, datingfrom the 13th and 14th centuries. Songs of love,songs of springtime, drinking songs, spiritualsongs and lively dance tunes all grace thisanthology. The Toronto Consort brings alivethese glimpses of an earlier era, with voices,fiddle, recorder, lute and harp.For Tickets call 416-964-6337 or order onlinetorontoconsort.orgTrinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. West26 thewholenote.com April 1 – May 7, 2012

PHOTO BOyd HagenGil Shaham.• April 21: In his KoernerHall debut, Israeli-Americanviolinist Gil Shaham playsan all-Bach solo recital —thepartitas in e major and dminor, and the Sonata forSolo Violin in C Major. One oftoday’s most engaging classicalartists, he’s been describedby The New York Times as “avirtuoso and a player of deeplyintense sincerity.”• April 29: Toronto’s ownCommunity Baroque Orchestragives its “Spring Concert,”performing music by Handel,Biber, Leclair and Vivaldi.Violinist Elyssa Lefurgey-Smith leads the group, andthe soloists in Vivaldi’sConcerto in C Major for twoflutes are Roseen Giles andGregory Kirczenow.• May 2 to 6: A description of the artistry of British violinist RachelPodger runs: “(She) is known for her highly accurate, virtuosic playing,outstanding musicianship and understanding of period style, anda cheerful, warm and decidedly non-stuffy stage presence.” All verygood reasons to check out her guest appearances with Tafelmusikin their five concerts titled Bach and the Violin. Podger has heldpositions as leader with the English Concert, the Orchestra of theAge of Enlightenment and the Academy of Ancient Music, amongother groups; she’ll perform with Tafelmusik as director and soloistin works by Bach, Vivaldi and Telemann.• May 3 and 5: Aradia’s “The Grain of the Voice” features twogroups of very different vocal “grains”: the choir and orchestra ofAradia who will perform motets by Monteverdi and Gesualdo, andguests, the Toronto-based Georgian choir Darbazi who will presenttraditional Georgian repertoire (a uniquely beautiful polyphony).Artistic director Kevin Mallon unites the two with a new compositionof his own. (May 3 is a free noonhour concert presented by theCOC; May 5 is at the Glenn Gould Studio.)• May 5: In its final concert of the season, the Tallis Choir presents“The Glory of the English Anthem,” tracing the a cappella anthem’s500-year presence in the Chapel Royal, cathedrals and colleges ofEngland. Tallis’ Lamentations of Jeremiah and Byrd’s Sing Joyfully,as well as 20th-century works, will be performed.For full details of all these, and more, please peruseThe WholeNote’s daily listings.Simone Desilets is a long-time contributor to The WholeNote inseveral capacities who plays the viola da gambaShe can be contacted at earlymusic@thewholenote.com.Composer ann southam, who died November 25, 2010,continues to live through her music, appearing on concertprograms with an insistent frequency far beyond the initialspate of “tribute concerts” one might have expected. What isbecoming clearer with the passage of time is that the music, as muchas the memory, is of enduring value. That being said, two giftedpianists in the community, Christina Petrowska Quilico and EveEgoyan, are doing much to keep the Southam legacy alive, boththrough their recordings and through live performance.This month, for example, on April 1, with the Kindred SpiritsOrchestra in Markham, the indefatigable Petrowska Quilicoperforms three Southam works as part of Kindred Spirits’ one-night“New Music festival” concert. And then, April 25–28, she providesthe entire accompaniment to a new ballet, Rivers, choreographedto Southam’s music by Toronto Dance Theatre’s Christopher House.Egoyan, meanwhile, brings Southam’s Simple Lines of Enquiry to abenefit concert for MusicWorks magazine, April 19 at Gallery 345.Both are events worth saying more about.I firstbecame awareof the TDTRivers projectlast fall duringa 20-minutevideo interviewI did withPetrowskaQuilico for TheWholeNote’songoing videoBeat by Beat / In With the NewRivers,Toy Pianos,and the TPLdavid perlmanToronto Dance Theatre.interview series, Conversations@TheWholeNote.com, (which readerscan find by going directly to The WholeNote’s YouTube channel).I have to admit, the scope of the undertaking didn’t fully registerat the time. House has worked for a year with Petrowska Quilicoand then TDT’s ten dancers to create what he calls “a fluid andunpredictable counterpoint to the music, reflecting the rushing cascades,luxuriant eddies and attentive stillnesses in the score … alternatingbetween large-scale, kinetic strokes and intricately-craftedmovement conversations. I hope to build a work” he says, “in whichboth music and dance retain autonomy yet their marriage feelssurprisingly, deliciously inevitable.”Photo GUNTar KRAVISJoseph Macerollo & Ina Henning performAndrew Staniland – Pentagramswww.NewMusicConcerts.comInformation416.961.9594Robert AitkenartisticdirectorMonday April 23 2012 @ 7pm • free public event with Arraymusic & New Music ConcertsNew Music 101 Series @ Elisabeth Beeton Auditorium, Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St.photo: André LeducYoko Hirotasmall isbeautifulpiano music by Schoenberg,Morel, Cherney, Radford,Lemay & CurrentFriday April 27 2012Gallery 345 @ 8pm345 Sorauren Ave./25/10April 1 – May 7, 2012thewholenote.com 27

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